. >> larry: we're back with akio toyoda, the president and ceo of toyota motor company. scussed taking responsibility. what do you do, mr. toyoda, with that responsibility? more than 8 million vehicles have been recalled worldwide. what do you do for your customers now? >> translator: first of all, to our customers i would like to say that toyota vehicles are safe. for example, customers are perhaps most concerned about unintended acceleration, and they might be concerned about our electronic throttle control system may have a problem, but i am here to explain to the american people that our engineers tried to reproduce those problems, alleged problems, and they've been working very hard, and as far as their effort goes, we were not able to re-create those malfunctioning, so at this point in time, i would say that our vehicles are safe, however, depending upon how the vehicles are used, on what kind of a roadway it's driven and how long it's been used, they may present different behavior phenomenon, so going forward we would like to really sincerely listen to the voices o

at a news conference in beijing, akio toyoda said his company's preoccupation with profits was one ofe worldwide safety recall. more than 8 million vehicles. cnbc's phil lebeau live in chicago. there's a new survey out and it paints a picture of what they think. >> it's not a pretty picture. people have not changed their opinion favorably for toyota, despite the public apologies, despite the hearings in washington. there's going to be another one tomorrow. despite the pr blitz where the company is saying, we're going to get it right. take a look at kelly blue book. we asked people to go onto kbb.com, has your opinion because of akio toyoda's apologies, has it changed at all? look at the bottom number there. it's worsened for 47% of the people who responded. this is not a scientific survey. you've got to take it away with a grain of salt. the bottom line is this. a lot of people are looking at what toyota has gone through, is going through. they still have a lot of questions out there. that's why there's so much scepticism and so much doubt. i hear it all the time, i'm sure you do, too

in beijing, akio toyoda said his firm was too focused on profits and expansion.the toyota recalls have shined a spotlight on the automaker, and its top u.s. regulator. as stephanie dhue reports, the national highway transportation safety administration, or n.h.t.s.a., will be a key player as the third round of hearings on toyota begin tomorrow on capitol hill. >> reporter: during last week's back to back hearings into the toyota recalls, transportation secretary ray lahood portrayed nhtsa as a heavyweight not afraid to use its muscle to protect the public. >> we have been very aggressive, and if we need to use subpoena power we'll use it, but we have lots of enforcement mechanisms, and i would stipulate, on my watch we've been a lapdog for nobody. >> reporter: but when toyota filed paperwork disclosing the sticky pedal problem, nhtsa allowed the company to skip calling it a safety defect. that move narrowed the scope of nhtsa's investigation. and toyota bragged the smaller probe saved $100 million. that's lead critics to say nhtsa relies too heavily on the automa

and it's interesting because the president and member of the board is obviously akio toyoda. there are five executive vice presidents. there are innumerable senior managing directors. and there are directors, members of the board, just two. and of the five executive vice presidents, members of the board directly under the president, akio toyoda, two of them are on our panel today. mr. sasaki and mr. ushiamata. and that's why i think there is some, you feel, or we feel, we both feel some frustration in trying to communicate our effort to get to the bottom of some of our questions. it's the -- it's the question of accountability. who is accountable. who makes decisions? many questions have come back that we are doing recalls as if that were a problem solver. and it is not necessarily a problem solver. we will get back to you on that. that is not a direct answer. i think there is more knowledge at the table than has disclosed itself. i don't say that rudely. i just say that in perhaps a typical american/japanese inability to communicate as effectively as we should on a particula

akio toyoda made the stop after last week's visit to the u.s. where he faced a grilling from lawmakers in washington. the number of vehicles recalled in china is a small portion of the eight and a half million pulled worldwide since october. at an hour-long news conference in beijing, toyoda apologized four times. >> the chinese market is very important. the reason why i came directly to beijing from the u.s. after the hearing is that i would like to express directly to chinese consumers our apology through my own remarks. and at the same time to explain to chinese customers what has happened recently to give chinese customers some relief. >> china' auto market is the largest in the world, last year overall sales jumped by >> holman: china's auto market is the largest in the world. last year, overall sales jumped by 45%. for the record, toyota is a newshour underwriter. on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gained 78 points to close above 10,403. the nasdaq rose 35 points to close at 2273. those are some of the day's main storie

we have fundamentally overhauled toyota's quality assurance process under our president akio toyoda.ill cover entire quality assurance from vehicle planning and design to manufacturing, sales, and service. in the design stage, we previously had been focused on -- [ inaudible ] however, we need do need to consider customer expectations and real world usage over our peoples. even irregular use, we also will reduce the number of things we ask our customers to do correctly. while quick and reliable recall decisions are important, so, too, are the steps we can take to prevent such an event during our quality assurance process. therefore, we will intensify our focus on safety design and the principle of preventing any harm during the full vehicle ride. with regard to customer service, we will build a better network to correct customer information in a more timely manner at the site. in the position, in the united states, we will establish additional technical branches in several cities. this will reinforce our local customer service and allow us to deploy s.w.a.t. teams over technicians to

çi personally talked to akio toyoda and emphasize that this is very serious.e and in effect, extended the. in which owners were directly effected. the agency avoided a lengthy investigation that would have delayed fix's for one year or more. last year, i announced it we were investigating whether a political of the protections. we have best toyota to turn over a wide range of documents. this will be one of the most comprehensive reviews of documents that will show us when and how they learned of the safety problems. nhtsa will continue to make sure toyota is doing all that it has promised. we'll continue to investigate all possible causes of unintended acceleration. the recalls are important steps, but they did not answer a bre-- they did not answer every question. although we're not aware of issues proven to be cut by such incidences, nhtsa is doing a thorough review. we have heard from enough members of congress that they think it is a problem. we will look into and review the electronics. if nhtsa finds a problem, we will make sure it is resolved. recently,

çi personally talked to akio toyoda and emphasize that this is very serious.sa has pressed hard to expedite these fixes. if nhtsa had resisted a recall, this would have consumed an enormous amount of time and in effect, extended the. in which owners were directly effected. the agency avoided a lengthy investigation that would have delayed fix's for one year or more. last year, i announced it we were investigating whether a political of the protections. we have best toyota to turn over a wide range of documents. this will be one of the most comprehensive reviews of documents that will show us when and how they learned of the safety problems. nhtsa will continue to make sure toyota is doing all that it has promised. we'll continue to investigate all possible causes of unintended acceleration. the recalls are important steps, but they did not answer a bre-- they did not answer every question. although we're not aware of issues proven to be cut by such incidences, nhtsa is doing a thorough review. we have heard from enough members of congress that they think it is

. >> meanwhile, for toyota executives, akio toyoda and yoshi inaba along with other executives, the moreubling issue may be class-action lawsuits. there are more than 100 that have been filed. it could cost toyota billions of dollars. many toyota owners could benefit, even if they're not initially part of these class action suits. some owners are even asking for payments to be repaid for the lower residual value of their toyota since the recalls started. >> 20% hit because it's a toyota or they're being told by the dealer, like i just read from the one fella, we don't want to take a car that might kill someone. so, what's happening out in the marketplace, i think is different from what those industry analysts are telling you. >> for more on the legal cases facing toyota, which by the way, we tried to reach the company for a comment and did not receive one. if you want more on these cases and what's facing toyota, check out the blog behindthewheel.cnbc.com. mark? >> thank you, phil lebeau. >>> want your cell phone to work like a credit card? now it can. senior correspondent scott cohn is

akio toyoda said the automaker should start over. their reputation and quality took a hit in the perception it moved too slowly on safely recalls. federal safety regulators are talk with ten toyota drivers who say their car has experienced sudden acceleration after toyota supposedly fixed the problem. that is raising new concern the flaw is in the software, something toyota denies. >> so they did the computer software revamp from what i'm told as well as working on the carpeting and the gas pedal. but in the end whatever they did didn't work because i almost got into a serious accident last week, after the fix was done. >>> navigating the job market could be tough, as many of you know, making contact with potential employers, avoiding scams and ripoffs. stephanie elam has advice on all of that and more in today's top tips report. >> reporter: today we're focusing on job-related questions and viewers have some great ones. first up, kyle. kyle writes i recently filled out a job application. i wrote my work e-mail address as a way to co

and toyota president akio toyoda but is urging thousands of his employees to work for a new start to win back customer trust following safety issues and recalls of over 8 million vehicles. choking up and wearing a gray workmans' it jacket, speaking to 2000 workers at the company headquarters, said "we are making a start to date." those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> "washington journal" continues. host: back live. first-time callers today, it is your turn to dial in. we will begin taking those calls in just a few minutes. as soon as the lines start letting up. i want to let you know about a few things coming up this weekend. but tv, 48 hours of nonfiction books, we have our life "in debt" program the first sunday of every month. -- "in depth"program, the first sunday of every month. this sunday, t.r. reid. he has written several books on all sorts of topics. he will be our guest for a call-in program from noon to 3:00 on sunday. also, on our "communicators" program, and then on monday -- it deals with a lot of telecommunications issues that are sometimes a littl

week, you yourself testified that toyota cannot respond to concerns until you personally called akio toyoda i assume that is correct >> that is correct. >> it is also true that we had to fly to japan to try to get toyota to take these issues seriously. to get them to take it seriously. in my opinion, stan needs to be i]çsomeone in the united states that can be held responsible when american consumers are injured or killed due to safety problems in toyota pickles. -- toyota vehicles. . . i think this type of decision making structure would help foreign companies be more responsive to safety issues in the united states. what do you think? >> i agree with you. mr. secretary, more than 2000 consumers have told nhtsa they are experiencing a sudden, unintended acceleration in their toyota and lexus vehicles. they have reported at least 34 deaths caused by sudden acceleration. that is correct, isn't it? >> yes, sir. >> if we areÑi being honest, we still do not totally understand why this is happening. over the last few years, toyota has offered several explanations. first they said it was the flo